Well I got the ISO to burn onto my dvd using ultraISO. The problem was a bad disk -- Tyler was right -- I just grabbed another disk from the box and the burn went off without a hitch. I don't know why the top dvd in the box was the bad one -- makes me wonder if it isn't even a dvd, but it feels like one. Thought it might be a plastic filler disk that they stuck on top. Now there is one other hitch. I burned what was in the ISO onto the dvd and it appeared to have received all the data, but then ultraISO said I should insert another blank disk as there were files left over. I did and it wouldn't write anything. I checked the first dvd and it looked like all the files were there, so I just exited ultraISO and went to install VS2008 from the dvd that I had burned. It installed microsoft visual C# express and microsoft sql server, but not vb or c++. It looked like these should have been included but they aren't on my hard drive. So to those who have already installed VS 2008 express, what should I be expecting? The ISO should have fit on a dvd -- it said as much on the microsoft site, and I checked the size. Perhaps I missed checking a box on the installation so vb and c++ weren't installed... Anyway, comments welcome. TIA --le __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind